We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our site. Cookies are files stored in your browser and are used by most websites to help personalize your web experience. By continuing to use our website without changing the settings, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. View Privacy Policy.

Archive

Pilot Implementation Is A Very Useful Tool

Written by Andrew Lee, Marketing Analyst | March 19, 2012

Conducting a pilot implementation with certain prospects is an effective way of getting your foot in the door and making a future full-fledged sale. The goal of conducting pilots is to give the potential customer the full experience of our offering – albeit in a smaller, localized environment.

It’s essentially the first stage of a complete adoption process.

Pilot implementations are very effective in larger corporations. These are the prospects that are large enough to have independent departments that can run the pilot in a “closed” environment, without impacting the rest of the organization while they test the product. From a vendor perspective, a large corporation can end up becoming a big client – and a big win. It also makes the effort well worth it.

It’s encouraging to hear that ShoreTel Mobility is currently in discussions and pilots with more than a dozen Fortune 100 companies.

Another related concept is the phased implementation, whereby a company gradually embraces a new system in multiple stages and/or across multiple sites. A well-received pilot can be the catalyst that sparks a phased implementation.

In UC, ShoreTel already has many success stories of companies that have, over time, implemented our systems in multiple locations, branches and subsidiaries. Therefore, it is clear that the pilot can be a very useful tool in customer acquisition.